I couldn't resist this headline

Can paintballs legally deter intrusive hookers?

Seriously. What's up Seattle?

Obama: The College Years

Photo essay from TIME.

Oh happy day!

Election Day!!!

Happy Halloween!

Also, thought this had some insight (reminded me of a couple years ago, when a clever friend went as "the Internet").

Wow.

Bush with Rubik's Cube

Sculpture by Alison Jackson. In Liverpool at the moment.

Funny and tragic.

www.palinaspresident.com

Thanks Uy and Amber.

U.S. National Debt Clock Runs Out of Digits

That's right, we've quite literally maxed out the ability of this NYC clock to reflect our national debt. How thoroughly depressing.

Earth From Above

Photography exhibit by Yann Athus-Bertrand. Coming to NYC in Summer 2009, San Francisco and elsewhere afterward. Very cool. You can download free wallpaper here.

Bailout FAIL!

Dow plunges below 10,000 amid global sell-off

Which means, even though we've passed the horrible bail-out legislation (more on that monstrosity later), investors both in the U.S. and abroad know it's complete B.S. Great way to top off your presidency, GWB.

Budapest graffiti

A good friend of mine was recently lucky enough to be sent to Budapest for work. He took a lot of great photos and was nice enough to let me selectively steal a few for my blog.

Newsflash: TV on the Radio

Second album actually better than first.

Paul Newman

I loved both your movies and your delicious food products, which helped countless people dine and and simultaneously donate to charity. *side note: I'm actually not being sarcastic, loved this guy and his salad dressing.

Even more frightening, the report says, is that their votes count just as much as yours.

Report: 60 Million People You'd Never Talk To Voting For Other Guy


The Onion puts it so succinctly.

"While you are 100 percent certain that your preferred candidate's stance on issues such as foreign policy and the economy would appeal to any human being with half a brain, there is, in this very same country, an equally large voting bloc which believes that you and your candidate of choice are absolutely insane," the report's co-author Dr. Mark Grier said during a press conference. "Every single thing you love about your candidate's personality, vice presidential pick, and family, 60 million other registered voters absolutely deplore."

Excerpt from Morford Column today

The good news: As Michael Lewis over at Slate points out, so long as the U.S. government keeps borrowing massive sums from foreign banks (thanks, China! Here, have some saccharine Tibet-free bulls--t Olympics coverage), we probably won't feel much of BushCo's $700 billion bailout on your tax bill. But your grandkids? Oh my God. Wait, do you even have grandkids yet? No? Well then, screw 'em. Damn whippersnappers probably had it coming.

The bad news: Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's confession that the program will put a "significant amount of taxpayers' money on the line," which is a bit like saying "removing this wing from the plane will put a significant amount of death in your face." God knows we haven't funded the absolute ineptitude of Bush sufficiently, to the tune of two trillion dollars, for a failed and lost war. Now we get to save countless gluttonous MBAs and inept investment bankers and rather hopeless home buyers who were far too easily duped by cretinous lenders into believing it was perfectly OK to take on a sub-prime loan for a quarter-million dollars when they only made 25K per year. But hey, at least now some of us can afford to buy a house. In Stockton.

Excerpts from Bush's speech on the economy last night (WARNING: foul language)

• Good evening. This is an extraordinary period for America’s economy.

• No sh*t?

• Over the past few weeks, many Americans have felt anxiety about their finances and their future. I understand their worry and their frustration.

• Oh yeah? Your net worth was somewhere between $9 and $26 million in 2003. I'm sure you can really relate to the average American. Side note: Cheney's net worth is somewhere between $30 and $100 million, McCain's is between $25 and $38 million. Yet the Republicans are largely supported by America's working class (well at least the Christian part). I don't get it. Well, I guess I kind of do, but I don't want to believe it.

• Financial assets related to home mortgages have lost value during the house decline, and the banks holding these assets have restricted credit. As a result, our entire economy is in danger. So I propose that the federal government reduce the risk posed by these troubled assets and supply urgently needed money so banks and other financial institutions can avoid collapse and resume lending.

• The government bailout will most certainly not "reduce the risk posed by these troubled assets" - rather, it will transfer that risk to the American people, and our government. Has no one thought yet, what if the bailout doesn't work? Then, not only are we stuck with a supremely f*cked economy, but we will have shown the world that our government is completely incompetent and powerless. And so the American empire declines...

• First, how did our economy reach this point? Well, most economists agree that the problems we’re witnessing today developed over a long period of time. For more than a decade, a massive amount of money flowed into the United States from investors abroad because our country is an attractive and secure place to do business.

• A decade, huh? As in, "It's not my fault!" Investors abroad, huh? As in, "Blame the foreigners!" Sigh. Haha, I won't even start on the irony of his "IS an attractive and secure place to do business" line - but...seriously?

• I’m a strong believer in free enterprise, so my natural instinct is to oppose government intervention. I believe companies that make bad decisions should be allowed to go out of business.

• Oh yeah? Clearly, your ideology is very important to you. That's why you're currently engineering the "mother of all bailouts". F*cking Republican hypocrites.

• Under normal circumstances, I would have followed this course. But these are not normal circumstances. The market is not functioning properly. There has been a widespread loss of confidence, and major sectors of America’s financial system are at risk of shutting down. The government’s top economic experts warn that, without immediate action by Congress, America could slip into a financial panic and a distressing scenario would unfold.

• Scare tactics. Sound familiar? Maybe because preying on the fear of average Americans has been the main route of this administration to doing whatever they want - i.e. Iraq, expansion of executive powers, the f*cking Patriot Act, and so on. There's some merit to this claim, but a bailout of this size is bound to extend weak economic growth through the very long term (have you looked at our national debt figures lately?) rather than a lot of lay-offs in the short term, which would hopefully be replaced by another economic growth engine (I will detail my general idea of how to revitalize our economy at the end of the post).

• And if you own a business or a farm, you would find it harder and more expensive to get credit. More businesses would close their doors, and millions of Americans could lose their jobs. Even if you have good credit history, it would be more difficult for you to get the loans you need to buy a car or send your children to college. And, ultimately, our country could experience a long and painful recession.

• FEAR! FEAR! FEAR! You're f*cked, America, unless you give us unlimited power and money.

• I also understand the frustration of responsible Americans who pay their mortgages on time, file their tax returns every April 15th, and are reluctant to pay the cost of excesses on Wall Street.

• No you don't. If you really did, you couldn't get up there and honestly ask the American people to agree to this ridiculous bailout. Liar.

• It would remove the risk posed by the troubled assets, including mortgage-backed securities, now clogging the financial system.

• Really, our economy is just one big toilet and someone took a massive dump in it.

• First, the plan is big enough to solve a serious problem. Under our proposal, the federal government would put up to $700 billion taxpayer dollars on the line to purchase troubled assets that are clogging the financial system.

• Note: In its original form, they wouldn't have access to $700 billion - they would have access to a $700 billion line of revolving credit. Meaning, Paulson could buy a bunch of bad mortgages, sell them at a loss, and buy more. Continue process. Continue to prop up failed businesses. That'll help restore confidence in America's economy. *saaaaaarcasm*

• Second, as markets have lost confidence in mortgage-backed securities, their prices have dropped sharply, yet the value of many of these assets will likely be higher than their current price, because the vast majority of Americans will ultimately pay off their mortgages. The government is the one institution with the patience and resources to buy these assets at their current low prices and hold them until markets return to normal. And when that happens, money will flow back to the Treasury as these assets are sold, and we expect that much, if not all, of the tax dollars we invest will be paid back.

• ...And peace and love and happiness will reach all the children in the world. Ok, this part actually makes some economic sense - HOWEVER, if it's true, then why can't healthy companies (there are still some!) buy them up? Plus SWFs? If it's true, why are we in this mess at all? Why go straight to the taxpayers? The truth is, a lot of this is psychological - which adminstrations like Bush's LOVE. Breeds fear. So watch out.

• Earlier this year, Secretary Paulson proposed a blueprint that would modernize our financial regulations. For example, the Federal Reserve would be authorized to take a closer look at the operations of companies across the financial spectrum and ensure that their practices do not threaten overall financial stability.

• Don't be f*cking fooled - the Fed played a BIG ROLE in the creation of this sh*tshow. Don't get me wrong, I think we need a huge revamp of our regulatory system. But what we really need is more transparency, not more shady Fed dealings (ever notice how the amount of money printed by the Fed isn't publicly released?). Just think how this whole crisis could have been averted if a simple piece of information was collected and disseminated, like, oh, household income maybe? Loan-to-value ratio? Information that should have been collected regardless of passing on the risk. A simple statistical analysis of the mortages bundled in a RMBS would have probably been enough due diligence then to prevent a stampede of subprime buyers. Or at least enough to keep Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from buying them up, if HUD had done its job correctly...
• My main point - capitalism DOES work, if everyone has the relevant information. Buying up all that sh*t was not smart business - it was deliberate greedy ignorance and stupidity on the part of executives.

• In the long run, Americans have good reason to be confident in our economic strength. Despite corrections in the marketplace and instances of abuse, democratic capitalism is the best system ever devised. It has unleashed the talents and the productivity and entrepreneurial spirit of our citizens. It has made this country the best place in the world to invest and do business. And it gives our economy the flexibility and resilience to absorb shocks, adjust, and bounce back.

• WHAT?! First of all, I do still believe that democratic capitalism works -- it was the main driver for America's rise to a superpower. However, the Bush administration and its policies were pretty much entirely responsible for royally f*cking up American democratic capitalism - to invoke it here seems almost blasphemous. And that last line, I mean, seriously?!?!

• I know that Americans sometimes get discouraged by the tone in Washington and the seemingly endless partisan struggles, yet history has shown that, in times of real trial, elected officials rise to the occasion.

• Just like you did with Iraq, right? Oh wait...

• So here are just a few of my thoughts, mainly about how we can move our economy into the future, rather than seek to patch up our f*cked up past (apologies for all the cursing, by the way - I'm just so frustrated by the whole thing, being young, I feel like I'm the one who will be paying off the government's credit card purchases for, oh, my whole life). In the past, the one area of our economy that has kept recessions mild was housing. For example, during the early 1990s and after the tech bust, the one area of value creation in an economy that had lost its growth engine, was the re-financing/purchase of homes. The reason was, in recessionary times, the Fed lowered interest rates. Familes that had purchased homes at a time of higher interest rates could refinance, extract home equity, and do a bit of consumer spending (usually on home improvements, furniture, etc.). But this was always as a replacement for the then-defunct actual economic growth engine that was fueled by real innovation (like energy, finance, technology, etc.). Housing basically buoyed GDP growth in times of decline.
• In the housing boom years of 2003 to 2006, the housing market became the growth engine. Obviously, this had happened before, but never to this extent. Everyone believed home prices would never go down (ok, just for future reference, whenever everyone rushes to invest in the same thing, it's going to create a bubble that will overvalue the worth of the assets, and eventually it will burst - you f*cking morons) and made a lot of stupid decisions as a result.
• Now the housing market, usually a source of growth during a recession, is the thing at the very heart of the economic downturn. So, what does our government want to do? Rather than stimulate a replacement industry, they want to throw wads of cash at FAILED BUSINESSES. Did I mention the people you're giving money to WERE INCREDIBLY STUPID?
• So what do I propose as a solution? Actually, something very similar to what Barack Obama has proposed (thank you!). Take that money and instead, invest in jobs that we need (we don't really need investment bankers, though in normal economic times, they do serve a purpose -- although part of me believe Gordon Gecko/Michael Lewis/etc. may have ruined that profession) -- like jobs rebuilding America's failing infrastructure and jobs in renewable energy and healthcare. Industries that could actually produce value in the form of innovation, because our housing industry will not be producing value for a very long time. This bailout is meant to subsidize it in the meantime.
• What would happen if we invested money, instead, in growing industries? Well, people who lost jobs in construction, design, etc. could find work in these industries, which would produce less unemployment and more income growth. These businesses would attract foreign capital back to the U.S. Eventually, new financial firms would rise to help investors tap into these growing markets. The circle of life continues.
• Would it be easy? Oh hell no. A lot of job losses. Massive unemployment in the next year or so. But what worries me about the bailout, is that in order to actually restore capital at these banks, like enough capital to keep them from failing, the government is probably going to have to pay more than the securities could be worth. Meaning, taxpayers take the loss. Meaning, taxes are definitely going to be raised on us in the future. Meaning, it's going to be a lot harder to create wealth during my lifetime than it was during my parents, grandparents, etc. Meaning, f*cking forget about the American Dream.
• I hope I'm being overly negative here and that this all works and our economy is peachy again in 2-3 years. But I just don't know...

• Comments encouraged. And I know how militant I sound and I know my socialist friends are going to blame capitalism and if you do, I just want proof that something else would have worked better. Blaming without providing an alternative solution not allowed. Cool? Fingers crossed.
• Now I'm going to read the terms of the bailout (the agreement was just reached) and probably get angrier. Enjoy your day.

"Obamanable Snowman"

Inside Obama's Emails - courtesy of The Onion (thanks Abby!)

This is B.S.

It's SEPTEMBER!


Sigh.

Why has no one turned me on to the Daily Mash before?

This site is going to suck up a lot of my time, I can just feel it. Check it:

U.S. BECOMES WORLD'S BIGGEST COUNCIL ESTATE

"Since the Pilgrim Fathers set foot on Plymouth Rock, the American dream has been about working hard and owning your own home until the government suddenly turns into a bunch of communists and buys up all the mortgages."

Bomb Squad Deployed on Mannequin Dressed As a Polar Bear

Throughout the day, bloggers speculated on what message that homeless bear had for a world that treated him with such cruelty.

Article is worth reading; I love journalism reeking with sarcasm.

Wall Street, WTF?

I'm crazy busy at work right now, but wanted to put this here as a placeholder. I have lots of thoughts about what's been going down (like the DOW - zing!) this week.

Pics from Anti-Palin rally in Alaska

Thanks Olivia!

Sarah Palin Bingo

NOTE: One game of SARAH PALIN BINGO should take one hour on MSNBC, three hours on CNN, and up to a month or more on FOX News.

Oh yeah, I'm seeing this.

October 24th in San Francisco, you in?

Momma's Boy video

Chris spotted it first; the Momma's Boy video - directed by the French artist Stephane Manel, music by Chromeo. CHECK IT OUT.

Courtesy of Olivia's mama

Maybe it's just because I'm more into it this year, but have prior elections reeked with this much hypocrisy (I'm looking at you, GOP)?

The next Dan Quayle?

*Props to Andrea for making the analogy alluded to in post title

Sarah Palin ballses up one of the biggest economic issues going on at the moment. Haha, can't wait for the VP debates...

Burn After Reading

This looks phenomenal.

Ha!

I've got lots more to say about Palin, but we'll just start with this clever graphic for now. (Thanks Caroline!)

The mysterious VP

A letter from someone who has known Sarah Palin since 1992

I'm, as always, a bit skeptical - but this sounds pretty legit.

Micro-lending

One of my favorite cooking sites (www.101cookbooks.com) pointed me to a micro-lending website in its last post and I thought I'd share. I'm a huge fan of the concept, which is basically, small private lenders (or individuals) either offering loans individually or pooling loans in order to provide entrepreneurs in developing nations (typically) with capital to launch their business. The site Heidi (from 101cookbooks, yes we are on a first name basis) recommends is www.kiva.org - you can offer as little as $25 and it's a loan, not a donation, so you get it back while doing some good. Hooray for everybody.

Great Friedman column today

...regarding the Palin choice and its connotations for McCain's energy-related positions. Key paragraph:

Palin’s nomination for vice president and her desire to allow drilling in the Alaskan wilderness “reminded me of a lunch I had three and half years ago with one of the Russian trade attachés,” global trade consultant Edward Goldberg said to me. “After much wine, this gentleman told me that his country was very pleased that the Bush administration wanted to drill in the Alaskan wilderness. In his opinion, the amount of product one could actually derive from there was negligible in terms of needs. However, it signified that the Bush administration was not planning to do anything to create alternative energy, which of course would threaten the economic growth of Russia.”

Well, duh.

Federal Reserve official: "Institutions must be allowed to fail."

David Brooks is a giant dick.

I've recommended Brooks columns in the past, mainly because he is a more intellectual, more moderate conservative commentator and I like to branch out from my typically liberal reading material. But after reading his column today, I might be done. It was maybe the most petty, cynical, mean-spirited piece I've ever seen - I can't believe the New York Times published it. People, particularly youth, are becoming involved in the political system at astonishing rates, driven by not only Barack Obama's ability to inspire, but also by evidence that their contemporaries are also contributing. The funny thing is, that's one of the most powerful methods of persuasion -- and it carries over into a lot of topics (I read a headline recently that hotel guests are more likely to reuse towels if the hotel advertises facts about the rate of reuse by other guests, than if the hotel advertises the environmental benefits). To write something so... misanthropic almost... is highly irresponsible and counter-productive. I wouldn't even have cared if he tore apart the speech - surely flaws can be found - but to denigrate a "a generation that came of age amidst iced chais and mocha strawberry Frappuccinos®, a generation with a historical memory that doesn’t extend back past Coke Zero." Shame on him, seriously.

First family

Beautiful.

Portrayal Of Obama As Elitist Hailed As Step Forward For African Americans

Portrayal Of Obama As Elitist Hailed As Step Forward For African Americans

You're going down like Bear Stearns!

This totally brought me back to my Wharton days...

**Kudos to Abby

REAL ID Act

Just learned of the REAL ID Act passed in 2005. Does anyone remember this being reported in the news (granted, it was during Katrina time, but a mention, anything)?

I want this kid's sweater.

Picture stolen from "Sexy People" blog. I would definitely check it out if you are bored.

The Onion on Bob Barr

This profile was pretty hilarious. Key excerpt:


Issues:
(1995–2007) Trying to control the faith, sexuality, reproduction, drug use, and national allegiance of every single American.
(2007–) Aw, Fuck it.

September 10, really?

I'm sure everyone's heard about this by now, but it sounds both very awesome and very, very scary. Here's a Gail Collins column about it too.

Today's quote

Pulled from one of the many SmartBriefs I get at work, this seems especially fitting given the economic news of late.


"My pessimism extends to the point of even suspecting the sincerity of the pessimists."
-Jean Rostand, French biologist and philosopher

Life is good.

Quote and news

I haven't posted one of these in awhile, but I enjoyed this one.

"Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life."
-Immanuel Kant

And thanks to Mike for pointing me to this ridiculous campaign story:

A housing issue: McCain not sure how many they own

Days after he cracked that being rich in the U.S. meant earning at least $5 million a year, Republican presidential candidate John McCain acknowledged that he wasn't sure how many houses he and his wealthy wife actually own.




Wow.

Conservation and conservatives

Great column from Bob Herbert today re: McCain's assertion he is a "Teddy Roosevelt Republican". It included a paragraph about one of my biggest pet peeves of late:

We’re now in a ridiculous period in which politicians are concerned about appearing too well-spoken and too intellectual — elitist — as if mangling the language while downing a shot and slurping from a mug of beer were sure signs of fitness for high office. So it might come as a surprise to some that Senator McCain’s macho hero happened to have been among the first naturalists at Harvard, an inveterate bird-watcher, and a prolific and sensitive writer.


Here, here!

Idea

Go backwards in time by communication method. Example: facebook message - phone call - letter - messenger pigeon - smoke signals - etc. Could make for a great scavenger hunt, movie, whatever.

Also, how did I get 7 blogs? Need to cut back...

Too much to read, too little time

Read these things later:

All of US Could Be Overweight by 2048

The Front-Runner’s Fall
and accompanying
Hillary Clinton Memos

Endangered Species Act Changes Give Agencies More Say

Invisibility-Cloak Materials Bend Light "Backward"

Julia Child part of WWII era spy ring
(What?!)

Cities to keep an eye on, architecturally speaking

Dubai (duh), Moscow, and Milan.

Preview of some projects planned for Milan in time for EXPO 2015.

Potentially next Friday

Braggadocio

Guess who's going to see Bob Dylan in Santa Barbara on September 7? That's right, this girl!

NYTimes slideshow from the opening ceremony

Check it out!

Two things for later

These Knowledge@Wharton articles had provocative titles.
Note to self: Read later.

Eat, Drink and Go Shopping: Why Thoughts of Death Whet Consumers' Appetite for Stuff

How the U.S. Government Has Mismanaged the Country

Save the Internet

Ok I am a little ashamed to admit this, but I wasn't really aware of this issue until a friend sent me a link to this site today. Here's an excerpt:

How does this threat to Internet freedom affect you?

Such corporate control of the Web would reduce your choices and stifle the spread of innovative and independent ideas that we've come to expect online. It would throw the digital revolution into reverse. Internet gatekeepers are already discriminating against Web sites and services they don't like:

In May 2008, the Max Planck Institute released a comprehensive study that found both Comcast and Cox Communications to be deceptively blocking access to peer-to-peer file-sharing networks.

In October 2007, the Associated Press busted Comcast for blocking its users' access to peer-to-peer file-sharing networks like BitTorrent and Gnutella. This fraudulent practice is a glaring violation of Net Neutrality.

In September 2007, Verizon was caught banning pro-choice text messages. After a New York Times expose, the phone company reversed its policy, claiming it was a glitch.
In August 2007, AT&T censored a live webcast of a Pearl Jam concert just as lead singer Eddie Vedder criticized President Bush.

In 2006, Time Warner's AOL blocked all emails that mentioned www.dearaol.com -- an advocacy campaign opposing the company's pay-to-send e-mail scheme.

In 2005, Canada's telephone giant Telus blocked customers from visiting a Web site sympathetic to the Telecommunications Workers Union during a contentious labor dispute.

In 2004, North Carolina ISP Madison River blocked their DSL customers from using any rival Web-based phone service.

Shaw, a major Canadian cable, internet, and telephone service company, intentionally downgrades the "quality and reliability" of competing Internet-phone services that their customers might choose -- driving customers to their own phone services not through better services, but by rigging the marketplace.

This is just the beginning. Cable and telco giants want to eliminate the Internet's open road in favor of a tollway that protects their status quo while stifling new ideas and innovation.


Seriously, check it out. I think the freedom of information we have right now is far too precious to let be taken away.

American eating trends

This picture sums up a lot of things so well.

In addition to a crippling oil addiction, the way (and amount, dear lord) Americans eat is just another one of our many faults as a society that may come back to bite us as worldwide inflation creeps up. Check out this interesting graphic from the NYTimes about how the way Americans eat has changed over the years (big shock - we eat more!). Thanks to Zaki for the link.

Also, here is another graphic for the fattest states in 2007. (Way to go Colorado!)

Ah yes, the geniuses working for government agencies (or, technically, government-sponsored enterprises)...

"If I had better foresight, maybe I could have improved things a little bit. But frankly, if I had perfect foresight, I would never have taken this job in the first place."

-RICHARD F. SYRON, Freddie Mac’s chief executive.

**from NYTimes

With apologies to my marketeering friends...

World's Worst Person Decides To Go Into Marketing

*from The Onion

Let's recap the mess we're in...

The big freeze: A year that shook faith in finance

*from the Financial Times


What has made this upheaval so shocking is not simply its scale and duration but the fact that almost all western policymakers and bankers were caught unawares. “If you had said a year ago that America could suffer a banking crisis on the scale of Japan, people would have laughed,” one former senior US regulator admits.

David Cameron's gifts to Obama

*via a Dowd column

The British opposition leader David Cameron gave Obama a copy of Winston Churchill’s “A History of the English-Speaking Peoples” and a box of CDs by British bands, including the Smiths, Radiohead and the Gorillaz.

Nice! I wonder what Obama would give other world leaders to represent our country...

Weep-worthy.

President Bush inherited a budget surplus of $128 billion when he took office in 2001 but has since posted a budget deficit every year.

President Bush's budget chief blamed the faltering economy and the bipartisan stimulus package for the record $482 billion deficit the White House predicted for the 2009 budget year.




Or maybe, that messed-up, expensive war we're in had something to do with it.

Spot the nerd.

*thanks Caroline!

Great blog.

http://creativecapitalismblog.com/

Creative Capitalism: A Conversation

A Conversation is a web experiment designed to produce a book -- a collection of essays and commentary on capitalism, philanthropy and global development -- to be edited by us and published by Simon and Schuster in the fall of 2008. The book takes as its starting point a speech Bill Gates delivered this January at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In it, he said that many of the world's problems are too big for philanthropy--even on the scale of the Gates Foundation. And he said that the free-market capitalist system itself would have to solve them.

Some contributors (both of their own accord and quoted, but relevant nonetheless):

Abhijit Banerjee
Alex Friedman
Bill Gates
Brad DeLong
Clive Crook
Conor Clarke
Ed Glaeser
Elizabeth Stuart
Eric Werker
Esther Duflo
Gary Becker
Gregory Clark
Jagdish Bhagwati
John Quiggin
John Roemer
John Williamson
Joshua Gans
Justin Fox
Kyle Chauvin
Lawrence Summers
Loretta Michaels
Matthew Bishop
Michael Kinsley
Michael Kremer
Milton Friedman
Nancy Birdsall
Nancy Koehn
Paul Ormerod
Richard Posner
Robert Reich
Steven Landsburg
Tim Harford
Vernon Smith
Warren Buffett
William Easterly

Boomers running up the national credit card

Taken from Slate:

The Democrat-sponsored housing bill received 72-13 Senate approval in a rare Saturday session, giving the Treasury Department sweeping authority to prop up the country's two largest mortgage finance companies and potentially costing the government billions of dollars. "The bill raises the national debt ceiling to $10.6 trillion ... the first time that the limit on the government's credit card has grown to 14 digits," the NYT reports. Sen. Jim DeMint (R, S.C.), mentioned in both stories, told the WP that that the Treasury's new authority "crosses the line into socialism"; John McCain and Barack Obama both support the bill. The Post's economist sources say that the end of crunch won't come near as fast as the bill's passing. In fact, one says, the 400,000 households the bill hopes to assist are "a drop in the bucket."



This will make things worse.

Domino's Scientists Test Limits Of What Humans Will Eat

Domino's Scientists Test Limits Of What Humans Will Eat

Outside Lands or Treasure Island?

Agh! Which one would you go to? (Keep in mind that it will be tough for me to catch the Friday bands because of work...) Oh and there's a price difference to take into account.

http://sfoutsidelands.com/

http://www.treasureislandfestival.com/

OH! Philly people - there's a Bob Dylan show at the Electric Factory for the venue's 40th Anniversary in mid-August. If there was any possible way I could make it, I would do so - that's going to be a GREAT show. Get on it.

Berlin

"The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down."

-Barack Obama

Belgrade

Global Rich List

Type in your annual salary and this computes your place in a world income-ranking. According to this gadget, I'm in the top 1%. Nice to remind everyone how lucky they really are.

"You are the 54,175,729 richest person in the world! "

What I'll be doing October 3 - 5

The line-up for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is ridiculously great this year. Let me know if you want to come with...

Mat Collishaw

The Dark Knight mini-review

Well, while I was back east visiting my family I had the pleasure of seeing The Dark Knight... twice. (Unfortunately neither time at IMAX - sold out for days!) Both myself and the various family members who accompanied me were stunned after walking out of the theater. It has been a long time since I've seen a summer blockbuster that was so unbelievably good.

Obviously, as everyone has no doubt already heard, Heath Ledger was the piece de resistance of the film. At some points I was nearly moved to tears just by the sheer talent exhibited in his performance (and yes, I'm an over-dramatic person generally, so take that with a grain of salt). Given the character, and Jack Nicholson's prior performance, I thought Nolan etc. really made a great transition to a sick, depraved, intelligent Joker worthy of the more serious Batman films of today, as compared with the more cheesy Batman films of yore (though don't get me wrong, they still sneak in some great puns etc.). I feel the need to comment more on this because it was just SO phenomenal, but I'll let you all make up your own minds. And perhaps I'll post more later, depending on my mood.

Other bright spots of the film - cinematography, particularly shooting angles from skyscrapers. I actually felt afraid of heights while watching the film. In fact, the whole thing was incredibly well done. I also enjoyed the themes - particularly the exploration of depravity in every human being when put in a desperate situation. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone who hasn't yet seen it, but it's a really loaded superhero film. Dark, gorgeous, open to interpretation... glorious. See this movie!

Some weak spots - Maggie Gyllenhaal was disappointing and I wish there was a bit more Caine in there, but overall, fantastic film. I'll be going at least once more, to an IMAX. (And I don't usually make it to the theater, so that's saying something.)

Watusi!

Note to self: Learn how to do all of these... just in case.

Cost of Government Day

Congratulations! In order to pay taxes, you worked from January 1 until today (if you're one of my American friends). During that time, the government spent some money on this, some on this, ran up debt like this, and wasted a whole bunch of their (our?) time trying to do shit like this. Now doesn't that feel good? Aren't you glad you labored for such noble causes? Just curious.

The truth is, it's not like I hate the government programs with admirable aims - Medicare etc. - but when our government can be hijacked for eight years by scoundrels, why give them such a big budget to play with? There's got to be a better way.


**I thought I should mention that I'm not a Republican, or a Norquist fan, and thus am not endorsing them nor their ideas through way of reference, but rather I find the information (if true) to be quite provocative.

I Ain't Gonna Marry, Ain't Gonna Settle Down

This struck a chord...

So friends of mine, take my advice,
If you've been stung once, don't get stung twice;
Married life is mighty sweet,
But a single life personally is hard to beat;
It's nice to say that you are man and wife,
It's hard to find a pal who will stick through life;
So if the right one ain't easy found,
I ain't gonna marry or settle down.

Get them advertising dollars, James.

Now THAT'S entertainment!

Check out Clarence's hair! Classic. And seeing Silvio Dante use his teeth on a guitar... brilliant. I actually can't say enough good things about this YouTube clip.

Reverse incentives much?

'Regulation-induced Innovation': The Role of the Central Bank in the Subprime Crisis

My favorite paragraph:

Regulators and others mistakenly focus on maintaining market liquidity, he noted, citing John Maynard Keynes: "There is no such thing as liquidity of investment for the community as a whole. The social object of skilled investment ... is to outwit the crowd, and to pass the bad, or depreciating half-crown to the other fellow." In the cases of the current subprime crisis and the 1980s savings-and-loan mess, the "other fellow includes the taxpayer," Kane said, "and that's what pisses me off."


More commentary to come on Fannie/Freddie, Bernanke (and what an idiot he is), etc.

Oh, Reuters Oddly Enough

This is one of those really great stories, and I must say, I love journalism with punch lines.

*Thanks to Jon

Loveliness.

This is a great way to combat theft.

Josh Ritter is the guy your mom wants you to marry.

Listen to this adorable recount of his night with the Boston Pops (came via e-newsletter):

Hello All!

I had a dream last night that my band and I had a gig the night after our concert with the Boston Pops. We were to be in the same building (Symphony Hall), but somehow things felt different. When I arrived for the show, the band and I got into a deep discussion about what songs to play; so deep, in fact, that we forgot we had a show to put on. We were laughing away at the songs and ideas we were coming up with when suddenly I heard "Girl in the War" being played over the Symphony Hall sound system. "Hmm," I thought, "Well, that song's off the list." Then for some reason I found myself out on stage with a tambourine and nothing else. But the weird part was that I was standing on a trampoline...

Our actual show with the Boston Pops was also a dream, but thankfully one that came true. While the details are fresh in my mind I'll jot a few down.

Symphony Hall, one of the greatest acoustic spaces in the entire world and a place that seems brimming over with the collected strains of music over the last century, was the setting. To walk the corridors and stand in the balcony is like climbing a high mountain and look back on how far you've come.

The project of bringing my songs to the Pops was undertaken by some folks at the Pops, my manager and booking agent, the arranger Sean O'Laughlin, my band, and myself. Zack Hickman in particular did a good deal of work with Sean to get the music to go smoothly. In most ways it was like any other show, but in a few crucial ones it was different. Firstly, Symphony Hall is big: 2,300 people is a lot of people. Secondly, this was a one-off show. If I forgot words or if the arrangements felt wrong or the sound system went out or the guitars were out of tune, that was that. Thirdly, alongside this incredible crowd our families were all going to be in attendance. I was pretty nervous for the rehearsal. Here, after a great deal of work on arrangements, set lists and set-up, we would see how the whole thing hung together. The orchestra was friendly, but not overly, still when the opening chorale written by Sean for "Best for the Best" began, I realized that the only way to enjoy the evening fully was to accept whatever was going to happen unconditionally. During the rehearsal the rain began to pour down Biblically on the Boston. "How Biblical," I thought. The thunder sounded truly enormous as well, and continued until the man tuning the timpani was finished.

We finished the rehearsal and I went back to the hotel, pressed my suit and paced around for an hour or so. The great poet Robert Pinsky had agreed to come back from Aspen to read a couple poems over my instrumental piece "Edge of the World," but because of the rain he and his wife had been unable to land.

Whatever fears the band or I had strangely melted away as show time neared. Symphony Hall was lit up and the sound of the house getting full drifted up into our dressing room. By the time we stood side stage and the orchestra tuned, the prevailing emotion was elation. That didn't subside for an hour and a half. "Idaho," which I played solo seem to fill up the hall, and from there, the orchestra swelled into "Best for the Best" and then "Other Side." "Monster Ballads," "Rumors," "Kathleen," "Adam" - every song was like unwrapping a gift. My friend, the violinist Hilary Hahn, told me once that the best place to listen to music is standing in the middle of an orchestra. She's right.

Midway through the set, Robert Pinsky, who had made it to the ground against all odds, read two beautiful poems and truly stole the night. Standing to the side of the stage and listening to him recite was astounding.

The audience was likewise astounding. It felt like we had won something before we even got out on stage, and in a very major way, we had. This sort of victory doesn't come around for free. It takes a lot of uncertainty and a lot of miles, a lot of sleep-starved nights and even more coffee, and it takes people who not only believe in you but are willing to show it.

The show went off without a hitch and we floated back up to the green room where there was champagne and slaps on the back. By the time we got back to the hotel it was 2:30 in the morning, but sleep came nearly instantly and there were no trampolines in it.

Swoon! Anyway, if you ever get the chance to see this guy in concert - do it! His internal goodness just shines through the entire set and stays with you after you leave. And the music's not bad either.

We're having a heat wave...

...again. This is getting a little scary. For Berkeley:

Jul 9 Tomorrow
Sunny skies. Hot. High 93F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph.

Ok, so for most of you 93 isn't that bad, but it's just not like that here. Enough with all the heat, fires, air alerts, I want my "coldest winter...summer in San Francisco" back!

Haha why doesn't this surprise me?

Now I'm all for people who can enjoy good food to go ahead and do so, but 18 courses at this sort of event is a bit tacky.

"Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program." -Milton Friedman

In its latest batch of too-little-too-late actions, the Fed is going to restrict exotic and subprime mortgages. So they're going to take them off the market now that no one will touch them with a ten-foot pole? Way to be innovative and productive Bernanke (I hate when they do pointless things just so they can claim they did something). Additionally, Ben B. said that the Fed was considering extending its program of low-cost overnight loans to the nation’s largest investment banks into next year. Yup, that was supposed to be temporary. Soon enough, they'll be teaching discount window i-banking in b-school. Sigh.

Melinda's really long term real estate investment outlook

Long Alaska property - you heard it here first. At some point, those clever Alaskans may be the only ones with gas, water, a reasonable climate...

This is total BS

Coors to brew far from Rockies

Ok, in all honesty, I rarely drink Coors. But particularly as a girl raised in Colorado, this makes me very sad. I mean, I don't think "Brewed With Pure Trenton Spring Water" has the same ring...

Oh, also, holy censorship Batman!

Energy policy

There have been plenty of opportunities to avert the current oil crisis in the past 25 years, but all have been either ignored or deliberately blocked, analysts say. Reports beginning in the last oil crisis of the 1970s have warned of the problem, and all agree that the automobile is behind the spike in prices.

Well, yeah...

Steven Tyler Laid Off From Aerosmith As Band's Jobless Rate Hits 20%

Analysts speculate that the sector-wide layoff was a result of multiple factors, including redundancies in the singing-songwriting division, rising rehab fees that have cost the group millions, and a 34 percent decline in jump-kicks since 2003. In addition, some of Aerosmith's younger, more ambitious employees, such as Joe Perry, 57, are willing to sing and play an instrument at the same time, often for half the salary.

Tyler, already dangerously underweight, says he will struggle to put food on the table without a steady income.

*From The Onion

One of the funniest political pieces I've read in awhile...

McCain Battles a Nemesis, the Teleprompter

"You have been liberated."

So dramatic!

Awww yeah! (#2 for today!)

Baseball's best mustaches (courtesy of Olivia) - I think Rollie Fingers (what a name, too!) is my favorite.

Where is my mind?

The ADD post.

Indie Artists Drum Up Corporate Ties --- YUCK! Do you really think you can still call your band "indie" at that point? I mean, I know we all gotta survive but wow does that leave a bad taste in my mouth.

"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves."
-Abraham Lincoln

Netherlands boots tobacco users from bars and restaurants -- even in coffee shops, it's the end of an era *tear*

Fugitive Fund Manager Who Faked Suicide Surrenders

Sorry I remember reading about this awhile ago, but this excerpt deserved recognition:

On the day that he was to report, Mr. Israel’s abandoned GMC Envoy was found along a shoulder of the Bear Mountain Bridge near the Hudson River with the message “suicide is painless” written in dust on the hood. The keys and a bottle of pills were still in the car.

When Mr. Israel’s body failed to turn up and the message turned out to be the theme song of ”M*A*S*H,” the authorities began to suspect he was on the run.

Sounds like some serious detective work to me.

Awww yeah!

As part of the unspoken Internet aspiration to answer all of our most inconsequential questions, some giant nerd ("Thank you!") plotted out Steve McQueen's route in the chase scene from Bullitt and put an animated Google map next to the clip from the movie. Particularly cool if you live in San Francisco ("I thought that's where it was!").

This also looks tantalizing.

Baby Boomers Fucked Everything: a psychedelic light show

Of course it is. Artist bios are pretty hilarious too.

Follow-up: Olafur Eliasson

http://www.nycwaterfalls.org/

Make sure to check out 'How the Waterfalls Work'.

The Money Trail

David Brooks dissects where each candidates' donations are coming from (and embeds how much Barack is whooping McCain's elderly ass).

The trends are pretty clear: rising economic sectors tend to favor Democrats while declining economic sectors are more likely to favor Republicans. The Democratic Party (not just Obama) has huge fund-raising advantages among people who work in electronics, communications, law and the catchall category of finance, insurance and real estate. Republicans have the advantage in agribusiness, oil and gas and transportation. Which set of sectors do you think are going to grow most quickly in this century’s service economy?

Ever the optimist, I disagree with Brooks' theory that this is all a bait-and-switch tactic by capitalists posing as Democrats, but rather, that maybe the people who are lucky enough to get an education and live comfortably have decided to put political ideals ahead of financial gain. Maybe? As one of the many in the "catchall category", that's my angle and I know many of my friends feel the same (although we're also filed into the "young and idealistic" category, maybe as you cruise up the corporate ladder, people become more cynical... I don't know, yet).

Frommer on Air Transport

Arthur Frommer (of the guides) attempts to predict [smart] consumer behavior now that the airlines have started to announce flight cuts, higher costs. The whole situation is quite depressing, but as with so many things, maybe it had to get that way so as to inspire real change (which so often stems from anger and frustration). So let's go!

New Sigur Ros album coming out!

From what I've heard so far, it's going to be good!

Mmmm indie music goodness in obscure places. What's not to love?

La Blogotheque meets artists and tapes them performing in a non-traditional venue, i.e. an elevator, an alley, a hotel room, etc. Check out the Take Away Shows here.

Some suggestions: Sufjan Stevens, Au Revoir Simone, Jens Lekman, St. Vincent, the Arcade Fire. But there's so much more. Check out for yourself.

This has been driving me up the wall with its insane awesomeness.

I can't wait to see one in action - just the designs and sketches are enough to titillate me!

*originally turned on to this from Chris's blog, but it's been in every real estate news blast since - man, I am so jealous of Dubaians (does anyone know if that's right? I tried googling and all I got was a sketchy Yahoo answers post.)

Comics in the Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/asmussen/

Today's gave me a chuckle, though I have to admit I rarely read comics in newspapers anymore. There are some Internet ones I like... though I'm never consistent. Sigh. Anyway, the "World's Greatest Father" thing amused me.

Sweet!

Who's coming with me?!

p.s. I love that the Fillmore is like, 3 blocks away from my apartment.

p.p.s. I hate how expensive San Francisco is - I directed a friend to their Philadelphia show (at the First Unitarian Church - loooove that place) and tickets were more than $10 less in Philly. C'mon!

Stewart Butterfield resigns Yahoo...

...and leaves a fantastic resignation letter behind. A bit late, and thanks to Dagen for the link, just a bit of amusing Silicon Valley gossip.

Dear lord, who does this sound like?

He might be smoking, but it would be at a cafe, hunched over a New York Times, an Atlantic magazine, his MacBook and some organic fruit-flavored tea, listening to Bob Dylan’s “Blood on the Tracks” on his iPod.

Haha, it's actually excerpted from a Dowd column on Barack Obama. And while I've mentioned I'm not the biggest Dowd fan, she did turn me on to this quote in the same column: "He is, as Leon Wieseltier of The New Republic wrote, not the seed but the flower of the civil rights movement."

Note to self

Listen to this later. Thanks to Jon.

Private equity happenings worldwide

Just some interesting stuff going on...

"Recent reports indicate that the primary trade group for private-equity firms spent more than $740,000 lobbying against tax increases in the first quarter of 2008. The Private Equity Council, which includes Blackstone Group, Bain Capital Partners, Carlyle Group and TPG Capital, spent a total of $2.1 million in 2007."

"A newly proposed Dutch law threatens to increase taxes on private equity from 1.2% to 52%. This has investors in the Netherlands threatening to leave. The Dutch government proposed the new law last month."

"Apollo Management LP founder Leon Black is being sued for more than $3 billion over his attempt to ditch the takeover of Huntsman Corp. The chemical maker filed claims accusing Black and co-founder Joshua Harris of fraudulent interference."

1.2% to 52%! $3 billion! Can you imagine? Private equity is definitely one of the more dramatic asset classes, I'd say. Anyway, I'm done with my nerdy business release of the day. =)

Sustainability update

Man, people are so creative and wonderful. Here are some of the things (some new, some only relatively new) going on in the green front:

solar-powered bra

sustainable dance club

energy-generating backpack

human-powered gym

I wish I could dance like Seun Kuti...

The man's got moves, that's all I'm saying.

Seriously?

Why would anyone do this? Talk about peer pressure...

Mod Hair Ken

Haha, well, I was googling hair styles for some ideas as I have an appointment tonight, and in a moment of pure, random internet glory, I came across this page which just brightened my whole day. Beard, sideburns, 2 moustaches, too! I would have LOVED this as a kid (or, uh, now) - Mattel, bring back Mod Hair Ken!